MasterChef Eliminations - Not the Right Recipe for The Office

The MasterChef contestants have been formed into two teams, and tasked to set up food stands at Cronulla beach on a Saturday morning to feed 500 Surf Life Saver "Nippers" and their parents. The winner is the team with the most takings by 11:30 AM. Winners get a private masterclass at an exotic location, while losers head back to flamin' grill HQ where someone will be 'eliminated'.

It's all part of the game on MasterChef where the intent of the program is to eventually pick a single winner.

But how often have you seen businesses create - or allow staff to create - artificial internal turf wars between groups that are actually playing for the same team?

Whether the competition is about budgets or resources, or simply to gain the attention of senior management, the business and marketing strategy gets all twisted up in bad execution and someone - or multiple people - end up as casualties who are either eliminated, or who just leave.

It's an epic fail on a corporate scale where the owners or shareholders are left to count the cost. Who let this happen? You did, if you are the management. Or if you stood by, watched, and stayed silent.

The point to take away: Pitting teams against one another in any internal competition must be carefully managed to avoid being left with one man left standing. Fine for MasterChef, but it's not OK for your organisation.

It's about the value of the results, not how long the work takes...

Clients often ask how much ASVP Group charges for its services per hour or per day and seem confused when I tell them we do not and will not work that way.

We cannot, because it simply does not make sense. And furthermore, it's a conflict of interest. Why would any client agree to a system for charging them where it is in the supplier's interest to deliver as slowly as possible in order to rack up a bigger bill?

Many lawyers and accountants work this way still - although the practice is starting to earn some strong criticism from the likes of The Hon Wayne Martin, Chief Justice of Western Australia, who proposed a value-based pricing methodology in an address to what was reportedly a stunned legal audience. His Honor said that hourly billing is completely inappropriate and ought to be thrown out in favor of focusing on value.

As part of our engagement process, ASVP Group assesses and agrees with the client on the value inherent in a project before it commences.

Together we can then agree upon a value for our work, which will allow the client to obtain a solid return on its investment in our work on the project.

We can then get on with delivering the target project objectives as efficiently and effectively as possible, with full knowledge of what the final bill will be.

No surprises, fewer delays, and a strong ROI for the client.

What's not to like?

Under pressure, integrity is the first thing to go overboard

How will your staff hold up under pressure?

And how will you feel when you find out?

In times of crisis, such as the global financial crisis, organisations face the challenge of trying to maintain their objectives and meet targets that are very difficult to achieve.

This puts people at all levels under pressure - often a great deal of pressure.

In fact, stress on staff is often the ultimate pressure test for an organisation.

Sometimes, people rise to the opportunity of such a challenge. Other times, disappointing you, they sink, defeated by the challenge, to unacceptable depths of behaviour. Depths from which the organisation might never be able to recover.

As a manager, you want to know your team consists of people you can trust with your livelihood, if not your life.

How useful would it be, then, if you had a way to tell how a staff member would behave under pressure?

How valuable would it be to know the 'default management style' for each of your key staff so you could do something to avoid that style costing your organisation dearly?

Finally, there's an answer. Contact us for more details, and for a confidential discussion about the challenges facing your organisation.